I have about 750 mls of Pinot I am storing in a cleaned old wine bottle for use in topping up. It is corked with the cork that came with the previous wine. Is this bad? There is maybe a half-inch of air space, tops. Ideas? Is it a #2 stopper that fits in a std. wine bottle?
Thanks! Joe
the cork sets up an entrance-way for air. As soon as the cork was removed from the old bottle, bacteria from the air will begin to grow on the slightly moist environment of the inside surface.
A #2 rubber stopper is the "correct" size, but it will push all the way in (and be difficult to remove even with a corkscrew). A #3 stopper will go about half-way in, and provide a good seal, which is easy to remove when you need to do so. They cost about 25-50 cents, depending where you buy them --- much cheaper than losing a bottle of wine to a used cork. Another alternative for short-term use are "tasting corks" or "T-corks". According to Vincent, the plastic variety (red tops) work well for long-term also. Again, the cost is 25-50 cents.
Drilled #2 stoppers work well when using an air lock on a standard wine bottle. This allows you to have a very small carboy when racking and just have a little too much wine left over to put into your larger container. The air lock stem tends to expand the stopper a bit so it may be that a #3 solid would be just the thing when you need a solid stopper.
22 brix
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.